This is a great idea, thanks for this info. Sounds perfect for my novel Restive Souls, which is definitely a little off the beaten path. Not so much for Psalm of Vampires, which is a potboiler, lol, and which I recently self-published after a few agent rejections because I'm getting long in the tooth — I'd be dead before the combination of agents and publishers would get around to printing it even if an agent said "yes" today.

The idea of agent-free submissions appeals to me. I've received a few rejections on Restive Souls, too. "It's not on my list" sort of responses. Ummm, no. It wouldn't be. So this avenue really appeals to me. The transfer of rights is a non-starter, but I suspect (without evidence) that university presses would aim for that more typically for non-fiction than fiction.

I can handle the contract angle. I insisted on changes on my contract for MagicLand., which was unagented. They said okee dokee. Just because someone sends us a contract doesn't mean we can't send it back with strikeouts and additions.